Seven Seasons

Each of our seven seasons provides a different opportunity for getting to know us, Fogo Island, and perhaps yourself.

Fogo Islanders lived in relative isolation for hundreds of years, eking out a living on the North Atlantic. When we eventually got tangled up with the mainland and heard about the concept of “four seasons,” our ancestors were perplexed. Four seasons? Some went so far as to count seventeen here on Fogo Island.

We finally agreed on seven seasons that reflect the changes in our winds and weather, but also the changes in our lifestyle throughout the calendar year. Warm, wildflower-blanketed summers are spent in gardens and on boats, while snowy winters find us socializing at the cabin when we’re not busy repairing and organizing the gear we’ll need again when the softer temperatures come back around. Pack Ice Season follows winter, bringing multi-year sparkling ice floes to surround our shores. A hopeful spring thaw precedes June’s Trap Berth Season, so named for the traditional staking out of fishing grounds that happens at this time, often in between bobbing icebergs.

Summer sun begets bountiful berries in the fall, and our aptly named Berry Season is no exaggeration; locals and visitors alike are found out on the hills from sun up to sun down collecting blueberries, marshberries, crowberries, and partridgeberries. Temperamental Late Fall has been known to contain all our seasons in a day: pleasant hiking conditions and days spent jam jarring as sunbeams stream through our windows are contrasted by the occasional ferocious storm, hinting at the winter fierceness to come.

To know our seven seasons is to love each and every one of them, and most of our seasons invite the exploration of Fogo Island by foot. There are more than a dozen easily accessible trails on the Island, and those who want to venture further can join our naturalists, geologists-in-residence, and community hosts for guided hikes.